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Tens of thousands of tsunami victims
still surviving in tents and other
temporary shelters were thrown into
more agony when heavy rain flooded
their makeshift camps.

Displaced families to receive relief coupons for two more months

Friday, April 1, 2005, 2:20 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Apr 01, Colombo: The Office of the Commissioner General of Essential Services says the government has decided to issue relief coupons to tsunami victims for two additional months.

Families already receiving coupons will be eligible to claim further assistance in this form, sources said.

At present, the Office of the Commissioner General has issued relief coupons at the rate of 32 per family for a period of four months. As announced by the government, 954,110 displaced families will now be given relief for six months. The issue of coupons, which began in February, will continue until July.

The cost of the relief, Rs. 3.6 billion per month, is being borne by the government. The total amount to be spent on relief coupons will be around Rs. 22.6 billion, sources said.

This includes a coupon for Rs. 375 per month per person. From this, one is able to get Rs. 200 in cash. The balance comes in the form of food items.

Khalid

Warning : landslides with monsoon!

Peradeniya University Geologists warned a possibility of more landslides in the central hilly areas during the monsoon period due to the shaken plates of earth as a result of the spate of earthquakes erupted in Sumatra in the recent past.

Prof. Kapila Dahanayake of the Peradeniya University told the Sunday Observer that certain parts of the country, specially the central hill have experienced tremors due to earthquakes in Sumatra.

He warns people to be cautious during the monsoon period as more cracks and fractures may have occurred in the central hills. "Therefore these areas are more vulnerable to landslides", he said. When asked how to identify signs of impending landslides, he said that people should immediately evacuate if they witness any unusual muddy and warm water, falling of nuts from coconut or other trees, turning of lamp and telephone posts to one side, and also cracks in the walls of houses.

Prof. Dahanayake also noted that so far there is no equipment in the world to exactly say the date, time and the place where an earthquake will occur. Present technology can only predict an earthquake, he added.

Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Natural Disaster together with geologists on Thursday visited an area in Kandy which has earlier experienced an earthquake. Pahatha Hewahata Divisional Secretary Wimala Makuldeniya said that 101 families are living in a vulnerable area for earthquakes. She said that 31 families are living in the most vulnerable area in Waldabala which experienced a landslide in 1996.

When asked why the authorities have not taken steps to evacuate them, she said "earlier these people were given lands in Huruluwewa and Giradurukotte. All of them went there but after sometime many of them returned after selling those lands".

Chairman of the Select Committee Mahinda Samarasinghe MP said that the Select Committee report will propose to establish a National Centre to monitor natural disasters with the coordination of the Meteorological Department, Peradeniya University and Geological Survey and Mines Bureau.

Chairman Samarasinghe also said that new equipment should be acquired with foreign assistance and existing equipment maintained deploying trained personnel. Sighting an example he said that some equipment in the Peradeniya University has been malfunctioning during the last eight months due to the dearth of trained technicians to repair them. He said that the Select Committee report will be completed by the end of May. An Interim report will be released in April for public debate.

Khalid

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Bread rises from Rice

A team of Japanese experts showed how bread could be made with rice flour. They met the Minister of Agriculture Anura Dissnayaka at his ministry on Tuesday. They told the minister the bread baked with white and brown rice was as good as bread baked with wheat flour. Pictured is a member of the Japanese team of experts handing over a loaf of bread to the minister.

Immediate Rs.250,000 grant to owners of destroyed houses

THE Government has taken measures to immediately grant Rs.250,000 to families whose houses have been completely destroyed in the tsunami catastrophe, Finance and Planning Minister Dr.Sarath Amunugama told the media yesterday. Owners of partially damaged houses will receive Rs.100,000 each.

On a directive of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Minister Amunugama has already instructed the People's Bank and the Bank of Ceylon to immediately provide this housing grant to the tsunami affected families to reconstruct their fully or partially damaged houses.

All the branches of the People's Bank and Bank of Ceylon in the tsunami stricken areas will be open on April 3 for the express purpose of providing funds to reconstruct houses beyond the 100 metre limit which are fully or partially damaged by the tsunami.

He said according to estimates nearly 60,000 houses damaged by the tsunami have to be reconstructed. "Of this 60,000, we presume that 30,000 houses will be accommodated under the project that the Government is launching on April 3," he told a news briefing.

Under this project all those whose houses were fully or partially damaged and located beyond the 100 metre limit will be entitled to a grant.

In a case of total destruction of a house, the owner will get a grant of Rs.250,000 which will be given in instalments with the first instalment being Rs.70,000. For partly damaged houses, it will be Rs.100,000 of which the first instalment is Rs.50,000.

"On April 3, we are inviting all those who fall into this category to the nearest bank where they already have a bank account in respect of the Rs.5,000 payment."

The first category will be those bringing a form which had been made available to them through the Divisional Secretary and the Grama Niladhari which had been issued by the TAFREN.

In the second category, this form is not fully perfected but there are certain parts filled. The third category will be for those who are not in possession of such a form but would receive it in the bank branch office and have it filled with the assistance of the bank manager and his staff.

"However all these three categories will be received by the branch bank manager. Nobody will be turned away. In order to test whether the application is genuine, the Disaster Management Team (DAT) of TAFREN had already inspected the houses and certified which are damaged fully or partially.

In addition, the Department of Census and Statistics have done a total survey and visited all these places and itemised the damage."

The Minister noted that even of all these documents are not fully completed, the victims can come to the branch offices on April 3.

The officers will help them to fill any areas which have not been filled up and they will accept it. They have time from April 3 to 8 to make sure that information is very viable in terms of what is there in the DAT report or the report of the Department of the Census and Statistics.

Finally on April 9, all those who have been now declared to eligible for these grants that is either Rs.250000 or Rs.10000 will be given a certificate which is called a confirmation of deposits. It means that the first instalment has been deposited in their bank account.

"If this program is done properly, from about April 8 or 9, about the half the number of people who need housing will be able to get resources to rebuild their houses and get them back to their normal life," he said.

A special discussion was held in this connection at the Finance Ministry on March 31 under Minister Amunugama's patronage. Ministry Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera and Chairmen of the People's Bank and the Bank of Ceylon also attended the discussion.

Clear instructions will be sent by the General Managers of the two banks regarding the procedure that should be followed in respect of the Rs.250,000 grant. Each bank branch will display a banner calling for housing grant applications on April 3, Dr. Amunugama said.

The Minister noted that 10,000 copies of the requisite forms were despatched yesterday to the General Managers of the two banks - 7,000 copies to the People's Bank and 3,000 copies to the Bank of Ceylon.

From April 3 to 8, the branch managers will process them to expedite disbursements The two banks will launch an information campaign during this period on the payment stages and the categorisation of fully and partially damaged houses which will help them to understand the exact category under which they can receive grants.

Khalid

TODAY'S TOP STORY

A renewed thirst for learning is seen among children. Here a little girl at the feet of her mother brushing up on her studies. The Government is currently having a primary education program in all schools.

Special plan to protect train commuters

The Transport Ministry is formulating a special plan to ensure the safety of railway commuters and property at a time of a tsunami.

Accordingly, trains operating on railway lines close to the sea will be taken to protected places as soon as they are notified of an impending disaster.

Transport Minister Felix Perera who met officials of the Railways Department yesterday directed them to earmark the safest spots on railway lines and keep the Railway Main Control Room informed of such places. The Minister has also directed the General Manager of Railways to appoint a committee to look into other feasible measures to protect commuters at a time of a tsunami or similar disaster.

"We have to ensure that what happened on December 26 does not repeat itself. To achieve that, the Railways Department should lay down a specific procedure to be followed during a tsunami. Co-ordination between responsible officials is essential to make decisions during such situations," the Minister said.

Minister Perera also stressed the need for a special program to protect railway workshops in coastal areas from tsunami waves.

"Following Monday's tsunami warning the authorities took swift measures to suspend train operations on the coastal railway line, take seven trains to safe places and close down railway stations," he said commending the efficiency of Department.

Over 1,500 people were killed on December 26 last year when the tsunami waves hit a Matara-bound train at Peraliya, Telwatta.

Khalid

Masive crowd in the Ismaic Conference in kattankudy held on 18.03.2005

Posted by Hello

Proper tsunami warning system could have prevented chaos - Experts

Monday night's stampede and chaos in coastal areas in the wake of the tsunami threat following the massive earthquake off Sumatra islands could have been prevented if there had been an elaborate tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean.

Peradeniya University Geological Department Head Prof. Kapila Dahanayake said: "If there was a system like in the Pacific ocean where they gauge water levels with hundreds of satellite connected sensors in the deep sea and with floating buoys, an accurate reading of a tsunami could have been issued."

"This is a good wake-up call for Sri Lanka. It shows the urgent need for a proper tsunami warning system," he added.

The tsunami warning issued by the US Geological Survey following the 8.7 magnitude earthquake in Banda Aceh region, at 11.09 pm (Indonesia time) sent hundreds of residents in the coastal stretch fleeing for life. Sri Lanka picked up the warning widely covered in the International media and an evacuation alert was issued in minutes.

However, he said this was a good exercise for Sri Lankans to gauge the response of the administrative structure and the preparedness of people to deal with such a situation in the absence of an effective warning system.

Prof. Dahanayake said there was no system to measure water levels in the Indian Ocean. "Thus, making an accurate warning on whether the earthquake has actually triggered a killer wave is not possible. The tsunami is not visible in the deep sea. This was why a pre-warning had to be issued."

Monday's earthquake which recorded 8.7 points on the Richter scale possessed all attributes that could have triggered a killer wave - the magnitude was more than 7.5 on the richter scale and the depth was 30 kilometres (less than 100 kilometres) below the sea bed.

He said the motions of the quake would have been the reason for the absence of a tsunami. An earthquake must create vertical motions to trigger a tsunami. The December 26 earthquake recorded 9.2 on the Richter scale. It originated from an epicentre 10 kilometres below the seabed.

Discussions are on to set up an early warning system in the Indian Ocean with Sri Lanka and India actively taking part in the negotiations.

France, Japan and several other countries have extended their support to set up this system following the Boxing Day tsunami that killed more than 300,000 in 11 countries in the Indian Ocean rim.

The Met Department and Geological Survey and Mines Bureau officials attended a meeting held in Paris recently in this regard.

Khalid

Relief on migration to Canada for the tsunami affected

With the tidal waves destroying most of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka as well as in many other surrounding countries in the Indian Ocean, the whole world turned their eyes to the region for days following the disaster. I for one was glued to the TV almost all day during the holidays following Christmas, switching between different international news channels, and watching in disbelief, the catastrophe that shook South Asia.

I read with an aching heart an internet article written by a British volunteer medical student of Sri Lankan origin about the situation in the Mullativu hospital, the helpless situation of residents of Galle in down south, and about entire beach resort hotels being washed away along with staff and guests in many places along the coastline of the island.

These are only a few of the horror stories, which emerged following one of the greatest natural disasters the world has ever known.

I know that many Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents personally know people who were affected by this horrific disaster and to them I send my most heartfelt condolences.

On a positive note, it was heartwarming to watch the response of humankind as a whole to the diaster, with so many offering their energy, time, and money, to try to assist those affected.

Aid and donations from governments and private persons alike were flowing to the affected areas from both near and far. One can only hope that this spirit of helping those in need continues unabated as South Asia recovers from the disaster.

In response to the situation, the Canadian government immediately announced changes to its Immigration Program in order to offer relief to tsunami-affected family members of Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents following the diaster. Various relief measures were announced and information about these relief measures have bene posted on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website (www.cic.gc.ca) with foll free numbers set up to contact for assistance.

One of the changes announced by the government is that all Family Class sponsorship applications and applications of Dependants of Refugees who were affected by the disaster will now be fast tracked.

As well, if a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident who has a relative in the Tsunami affected areas that falls within the definition of a member of the Family Class (such as parent, grand-parent, spouse, child, orphaned niece or nephew, etc) and if you wish to sponsor your Family Class relative, such cases too will be processed on a priority basis.

Moreover, in cases where your relative does not fall within the definition of Family Class (for example an adult sister or brother, etc.) they may make an application for permanent residence in Canada on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds provided that their Canadian relative is willing and able to provide an undertaking of financial support.

Finally, another form of relief granted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada is that tsunami affected applications and sponsorships will be fee exempted.

While anybody can make an application on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds, the CIC website stresses that applicants must meet certain criteria to merit consideration for special relief. Such criteria require that the applicant be directly, personally and significantly affected by the disaster.

A word of caution however for the interested applicants. I expect that the Canadian High Commission will be carefully scrutinizing the applications of persons who claim to have been personally and significantly affected by the disaster.

I also expect that the High Commission will be taking steps to verify the authenticity of every piece of information provided in support of such claims. As there is a lot of fraud involved in the immigration industry and as there are unscrupulous individuals waiting to capitalize on times such as now, the Canadian High Commission will be extra careful to keep fake claims at bay.

The disaster undoubtedly was unprecedented. Don't you think the response from the world at large was unprecedented too?

For more information, you may surf the Citizenship and Immigration website.

Khalid

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A fearful night is over

A man returns to his humble shack carrying his meagre belongings after spending the night away from the Dehiwela beach following Monday’s earthquake off Sumatra that triggered panic across South East Asia.

Warning to residents of coastal areas

Another massive earthquake with a 8.7 magnitude was recorded off the Sumatra coast in Indonesia at 10.09 p.m. Sri Lankan time, (16.09 G.M.T.). The earthquake had not resulted in any tsunami as at midnight last night. When contacted, IGP Chandra Fernando said that the Police had taken measures to evacuvate all residents on the coastal belt from midnight last night.

The Government also advised the people to seek shelter in safer areas and areas with a higher elevation. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga last night over the electronic media requested people living on the coastal belt to move two kilometres inland and get to safer places.

An Army spokesman said last night that if Sri Lanka were to be affected by any tsunami, it would have occurred within three hours of the earthquake.

A Meteorological Department spokesman said that this 8.7 magnitude earthquake was powerful enough to cause a tsunami.

Khalid

Boats and fishing gear donated to tsunami affected fishermen

On an initiative of the Southern Province Governor Kingsley T. Wickremaratne, an Organization called AIDER which is an Agency of the Municipality NICE, France donated boats and a stock of fishing gear worth Rs. 1.2 million. The items were distributed with the Governor's participation, among the fishermen of the village of Morampitagoda, Galle at a ceremony held at the Governor's Office in Galle with the participation of Chandima Weerakkody, the Chairman, SDA, and SPC Member Nissantha Muthuhettigamage.

The French team who arranged this donation was active in the Habaraduwa area helping the affected people. They also built 15 houses in the area.

While they were working in the Moneragampitiya Village, Galle, the team had an opportunity to meet H.E., the President too and discussed their project details with Her Excellency and promised to visit again to help in the development of the village. The French team was coordinated by Junior Chamber International Chapter in NICE France with the Junior Chamber International Members of the Dehiwala Chapter.

Khalid

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Lanka beats world with egg

The proud owner displays the world’s biggest egg.

A Sri Lankan hen cracked the world record for the world’s biggest egg. She had laid an egg weighing 175 gms - six gms heavier than the previous best reported from northern Germany.According to the newest world record holder’s owner, Nilupul Disna Fernando, a resident of Katuneriya, she had laid an egg weighing 165 gms a week before producing the big one on March 12. A normal egg weighs approximately 65 gms.

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HIKKADUWA SRI LANKA : Sri Lankan school chilren stand in a queue as they wait for a free lunch offered by a charity organisation 26 March 2005 at the tourist resort town of Hikkaduwa in southern Sri Lanka as the region marks the three-month anniversary of the December 2004 tsunamis that killed nearly 400 people in the town. Nearly 31,000 people were killed in the 26 December 2004 natural disaster.

Post tsunami reconstruction apace

There were distribution of 1000 transitional houses to Internally Displaced Persons due to tsunami in Trincomalee District, on the March 26th , 2005 in order to commemorate the three-month anniversary of the tsunami.
"This will be followed by distributing another 5600 transitional houses, before the Sinhala and Hindu new year festival", according to the Government Agent of, Tricomalee, Mr. Gamini Rodrigo.
Stromme Foundation of Norway is currently focusing on livelihood restoration and also in the education sector. Their programme covers eight Districts in the North, East and the South and as its first initiative 500 micro finance loans were disbursed to a number of tsunami affected families in order to recommence their livelihood.
They have also made arrangements to help a number of poor fishermen by giving them canoes to get back to their livelihood of fishing. In addition, the Stromme Foundation provided dry rations, kitchen utensils, mats, pillows, lanterns, etc., to tsunami affected people who were leaving the welfare centres.
They implemented a unique system called "cash for work" to those who were affected, by way of giving them Rs. 500 per day up to 10 days, in order to restore their partly damaged houses.
Number of families benefited from this were 610 to the value of Rs. 2.5 million. In Batticaloa District, 600 temporary houses and the same number of toilets are being built to commemorate three-month tsunami anniversary.
Under the Economic Recovery Programme of Stromme Foundation, they have made arrangements to help 1200 poor coir rope makers in Ahungalla, by distributing coir rope making machines to them. This programme will be held at Keththarama Temple in Ahungalla on March 28th 2005 commencing 9.30 a.m.
There will be a video conference between citizens in Sri Lanka and citizens in the United States of America and Australia to discuss the tsunami relief effort.
This will take place from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on March 29th, Colombo time and is intended to commemorate the three-month anniversary of the tsunami. This will take place at the Distance Learning Centre at No. 28/10, Malalasekera Mawatha in Colombo 06.
This videoconferencing is part of an ongoing initiative by a coalition of U.S. citizen groups and international relief organizations called "Partners for Progress". Partners for Progress seeks to sustain the visibility of voices from the tsunami-affected regions over the long-term to ensure that there is long-term awareness of and support for rebuilding in the region.
According to the agenda of the video conference, time will be allocated for introductions from various cities of the U.S.A and Australia, with expressions by individuals at each site of their community's concern for the people affected by the tsunami.
Further, there will be presentations by several people in Sri Lanka giving an assessment of the situation here three months later and explaining in terms that the general public can understand what the needs are on ground and how the U.S. and Australia can help. In this part, there will also be a discussion of how U.S. and Australian students can spend their summer in Sri Lanka helping the country as it continues the rebuilding process.

Khalid

Canada frowns on LTTE

Child conscription :
For the first time in its history, the Federal Parliament of Canada has taken up the child conscription issue in Sri Lanka for discussion.
The statement made at the Sub Committee meeting was significant because it was the first time that the issue of child soldiers in Sri Lanka was formally taken up at the Federal Parliament of Canada, a press release issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry stated.
The Canadian Parliamentary Sub Committee on Human Rights and International Development has stressed that the Canadian Government should address the issue of the LTTE's child recruitment and ensure that Canadian funds are utilised for child protection initiatives and prevention of LTTE child conscription.
In a statement issued after a meeting on March 23, Committee Chairman and MP David Kilgour said that the international community has raised major concern over the violation of the human rights of Sri Lankan children by the LTTE and the UN Security Council has discussed it in this regard.
According to UNICEF, the LTTE has even reached the government controlled areas and strengthened the recruitment drive after the ceasefire began in 2002, Kilgour, who was also former Secretary of State Asia Pacific of the Foreign Affairs Department said.
UNICEF documented 3516 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE during the ceasefire. The recruitment became so intense that less than 50 percent children went to school as many parents kept children at home in fear of the LTTE taking them away on the way.
The statement said that children who lost their parents in the recent tsunami are more susceptible to LTTE recruitment now and Canada must address this issue and ensure its funds should meet the objectives, recruitment prevention, child protection, in all areas including tsunami affected areas, relief camps and orphanages.
Deputy Chairman Stockwell Day, Foreign Affairs Critic of the Official Opposition Conservative Party of Canada referred to the LTTE's 'horrendous act' of training children to become human bombs.
He said that he raised this issue in the House of Commons and called upon the Sub Committee to act on a non partisan basis and address the child right violation by the LTTE in Sri Lanka.
He also referred to the necessity of listing the LTTE under the Canadian Anti terrorism legislation. Federal MP Joe Comartin of the New Democratic Party said that a group of Canadian parliamentarians accompanied him to Vanni recently and expressed Canada's concern over the child conscription to the LTTE.

Khalid

Law students honour two illustrious law teachers

Two distinguished legal luminaries Prof. Lakshman Marasinghe and Justice Saleem Marsoof P.C. will be honoured at a ceremony on Tuesday March 29 at 3 p.m. at the Law College Auditorium.
It will be part of the inaugural meeting of the Law Students' Muslim Majlis, which will be followed by a Symposium on the topic 'Monogamy, Polygamy and Bigamy: Some Reflections on the Abeysundere Decision' at which Prof. Marasinghe and Justice Marsoof will be the main speakers. Both speakers have contributed to the development of law through their books, book chapters and articles, and have also written comments on the controversial decision of the Supreme Court in the Abeysundere case which sought to overrule the decision of the Privy Council in the famous Reid case.
The students will felicitate Prof. Lakshman Marasinghe who has been an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and a Director of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, on his recent appointment as the Chairman of the Law Commission of Sri Lanka.
Having had his early education at Royal College, Colombo, Prof. Marasinghe commenced reading for a medical degree at the London Hospital Medical College, but suddenly switched to the study of law at the University College, London from where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree with First Class Honours in 1961, and his Master of Laws degree with Distinction in 1963.
He was thereafter awarded the Ph.D. degree by the University of London and the LL.D degree (Honoris Causa) by the University of Colombo. Since 1964 Prof. Marasinghe has been teaching law at several leading Universities abroad, but in 2002 when the Diploma in International Trade Law program was commenced at the Sri Lanka Law College, he was selected to head the local faculty. He also teaches in the University of Wales LL.M in International Trade Law program conducted at the Law College.
Justice Saleem Marsoof P.C., will also be felicitated on his recent appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court.
He was admitted as an Attorney-at-Law in mid 1974 and joined the Attorney General's Department in September 1975 where he served for 29 years before being appointed as the President of the Court of Appeal.
In July 1998, he was made a President's Counsel in recognition of his eminence in the Bar. Justice Marsoof, who had his education at Zahira College, Colombo and Royal College, Colombo, is a Law Graduate of the University of Ceylon, Colombo where he excelled academically winning the Gate Mudaliyar Edmund Peiris prize and the Law Scholarship.
The felicitation ceremony will be chaired by the President of the Law Students' Muslim Majlis, Althaf Marsoof, who will make the welcome speech. Dr. Joe Silva, Principal of the Sri Lanka Law College, who is also the Patron of the Majlis, will deliver the inaugural address.
The felicitation speeches in honour of the two distinguished teachers of the Law College will be made by two students of the University of Wales LL.M program, State Counsel Rajiv Goonetilleke and Ranjan Sriskantha, Attorney-at-Law.

Khalid

No 'de facto' recognition of LTTE

THE Government could sign a deal brokered by Norway with the LTTE to provide a formula for distributing tsunami relief as long as it was not seen as giving the LTTE de facto recognition as a Government, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said.

Addressing the Foreign Correspondents Association (FCA) in Colombo over the weekend, Minister Kadirgamar said: "I am told that the process of a joint mechanism is moving. It is not standing still. It is not going backwards."

The Foreign Minister said the Government's main objective now was to enter into a joint mechanism with the Tigers to distribute foreign aid for tsunami victims in the North-East, some parts of which are held by the LTTE.

Nearly 31,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka by the December 26 tsunamis and two thirds of the victims were in the Northern and Eastern regions.

He ruled out an early resumption of peace talks. "A formal resumption of the peace process is very much on the backburner," Kadirgamar told the FCA meeting.

Peace talks have been stalled since April 2003. Despite the suspension of face-to-face discussions, the two parties are abiding by a ceasefire arranged by Norway and in place from February 23, 2002.

The LTTE earlier this month said they agreed to the joint mechanism proposed by Norway, but there has been no formal announcement on the exact contents of the proposed deal.

An agreement on distributing tsunami aid is needed because international donors and several Governments do not want to give aid directly to the Tigers who are designated a terrorist organisation by countries such as the United States, Britain and India.

Khalid

International community in Beijing helps Lankan tsunami orphans

PROMPT and official assistance from the Government of the People's Republic was received in cash, kind and relief services following the tsunami disaster which affected Sri Lanka.

The people of China including the Special Administration Region of Hong Kong have contributed over Rs. 165,000,000 towards relief efforts through organisations like the China Charity Federation, the China Red Cross, the China Disabled Persons Federation, World Vision as well as private donations from schoolchildren, artists and entertainers.

A special display and sale of Sri Lankan gems and jewellery was organised by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing on March 04.

For the specific benefit of the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry Seva Vanitha Project for a Children's Home in association with SOS Children's Villages.

Wives and daughters of ambassadors and diplomats of several countries and international organisations accredited to Beijing participated. They modelled jewellery designed by the Chinese company, Lordspek International made with Sri Lanka gems, as well as Sri Lankan-made traditional and contemporary jewellery.

The wives of Ambassadors of Albania, Algeria, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Morocco, Italy and the United States of America wore their own national dress with matching Sri Lankan jewellery and gems.

With their Sri Lankan jewellery, wives of Ambassadors of Bangladesh, Chile, Estonia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Singapore and Sweden wore Sri Lankan sarees. They included the "upcountry" saree, the Kandyan saree and the saree worn in Tamil style.

Wives of representatives of the World Bank, the WHO and CNN also modelled. The daughters of the UN Resident Representative in Beijing wore bridal sarees and the traditional Sri Lankan jewellery, representing both the Sinhala and Tamil communities. The wife of the Indian Ambassador was the compere.

Chinese film star Xu Jinglei who won the Best Directors Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival last year also volunteered support for the Sri Lanka project and tsunami relief. She expressed her interest in promoting Sri Lankan tourism and will visit Sri Lanka soon.

Xu has been designated Honorary Goodwill Ambassador for the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. Apart from being the lead actress in the award winning film. Letter from an Unknown Woman, she is also its producer, script writer and director.

Jewellery specially designed for her in the film is to be auctioned as a further benefit for the Seva Vanitha project. Cathy Mao of Lordspek International made a presentation with Chinese models displaying uncut Sri Lankan gems.

She explained the value and special characteristics of Sri Lankan gems, tracing the history of Sri Lanka's gem trade with China from at least the time of the Tang Dynasty.

A raffle held on the occasion netted proceeds of over Rs. 580,000. Prizes were return air tickets to Sri Lanka, Europe, ladies' wrist watches and premium quality Sri Lanka tea.

Video clips, courtesy of Rupavahini, featured children in Sri Lanka recovering from the tsunami and clips of Baby 81.

Dharmadasa Wanniarachchi, Governor, North Western Province and R.D. Wimaladasa, Provincial Minister of Agriculture were present as special guests with their delegation. They were in transit in Beijing on their way to Shangdong Province on the invitation from the Governor of Shangdong.

Among the invited audience of over 300, were senior Chinese Government and Red Cross officials, diplomats, business people and members of the media.

Khalid